Ben Tennyson
Overview Benjamin "Ben" Kirby Tennyson, also known as Ben 10 is the main protagonist of the series. He is a 10-years old (fifteen in Alien Force, sixteen in Ultimate Alien) child, who found the Omnitrix during his summer vacation with his grandfather Max and his cousin Gwen. The watch fastens on his wrist and gives him the incredible power and ability to transform into super-powered aliens, and then he uses his new powers and abilities to become a superhero, dealing with both earth and aliens threats, while trying to escape the alien warlord Vilgax, who pursue him relentlessly in order to retrieve the Omnitrix. Personality For most of time, Ben is portrayed as an immature, sometimes self-centered boy but in reality he is a shy boy who trys to hide his fear that if he loses the universe could be destroyed or evil forces will enslave the whole universe, so he uses arrogance and self-centeredness to hide this terror; in the beginning, he only helped people for the pleasure of being a hero. He has matured dramatically and is a very capable leader in the sequel Ben 10: Alien Force due to Grandpa Max's disappearance and the threat of the Highbreed Invasion, but tends to relax and (somewhat) turn back to his original self in the third season. He also had a complex love-hate relationship withhis cousin Gwen in the original show; since he was a kid, he always loved the "Sumo Slammers", and has a tendency to say Oh, man, and its hero time. Ben and his team are frequent costumers of the restaurant "Mr. Smoothy", Ben is infamous for drinking numerous amounts of them whenever coming to Mr. Smoothy, drinking a menagerie of strange flavors, like "Chocolate and carrot," "Nectarine", "Mango and blueberry with extraechinacea" and "all-meat flavored smoothies such as lamb and sardine"; and then burp unpleasantly loud. Despite his immaturity, Ben's actions are motivated above all by a strong and sincere will to help other people; he'll stop at nothing to protect his family or anyone in danger. Sometimes, his idealistic nature tends to make him act naive. Though often thought by many other characters to be quite unintelligent, Ben actually proves to be resourceful and cunning when needed, usually showing good adaptation skills when the Omnitrix doesn't provide him with the form he originally wanted. In the episode "Where the Magic Happens", Kevin shows surprise when Ben is able to memorize a sentence of magic symbols with a mere look. Gwen also states that he isn't working to his potential in school, to which he agrees. While attending the Plumber Academy, Ben seemingly does not pay attention to his classes or the drill sergeant, yet still achieve a grade of 95 upon completion of the course. How much of that is the previous training Ben received from his grandfather and his actions in the episode is unknown. In Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien At some point between the two shows, Ben had removed the Omnitrix, spending five years without it, because he chose to give up from his superhero career to have a normal life, though he kept the inactivated Omnitrix as a souvenir, however, Ben found out that his Grandpa Max had mysteriously disappeared while investigating what Magister Labrid calls "an alien conspiracy with Earth in the middle" leaving only an enigmatic holographic message for Ben. Despite Gwen's doubts, Ben decided to use the Omnitrix again in order to find Max. When he toned down his immaturity in the first seasons of Ben 10: Alien Force, he proved to be a capable leader for his team, although after his success at saving the universe from the Highbreed Invasion, his overconfidence caused him to revert to his immature personality as well as a very competent fighter, and also Ben, Gwen an Kevin became Plumbers. However, after his successful attempt at ending the Highbreed Conspiracy on Earth, Ben grew famous and was celebrated as a hero throughout the whole galaxy, and received awards from various Alien Ambassadors; this caused him to eventually relax and return to his immature and somewhat cocky attitude from the original series, much to Gwen's and Kevin's chagrin. Worst of all, Ben loses Azmuth's trust after a failure attempt to hack the Omnitrix. But he changed part of his immature after defeating Vilgax. Ben also discovered that he, his cousins Gwen and Ken, father Carl and Uncle Frank, have alien heritage, from a species called Anodite, though he doesn't have his grandmother's spark like Gwen. Although, in "Fame", it is shown that at the end of Ben's mission, his eyes turn pink noting that there might be a connection between him and his Anodite background. In the two-part series finale of Ben 10: Alien Force, Ben lost the Omnitrix for Vilgax and was later forced to sacrifice it by ordering it to self-destruct. He then successfully took from his evil twin Albedo the Ultimatrix, a more advanced version of the Omnitrix. In addition to the original Omnitrix shape shifting powers, the Ultimatrix gives Ben the power to make his aliens evolve into more powerful forms, called "Ultimate's." In Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Ben's secret identity is revealed to the world and he's now a megastar superhero loved all over by kids. This series features Ben's new car that Kevin gave him for his 16th birthday in "Ben 10: Alien Swarm". Kevin says that he'll keep it (since Ben destroyed his own with Humongousaur), but Ben threatens to throw the new one if he can't keep it. Ben is seen frequently driving his new car, titled the "DX Mark 10" (shown as a Mazda RX-8 in "Alien Swarm") in Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. Future In the future, Ben has become a full-time hero, his identity is revealed since Ben 10: Ultimate Alien and is recognized everywhere as Ben 10,000, no matter what alien form he is using (obviously because he has an Omnitrix/Ultimatrix symbol on his chest in alien form). The name comes from the fact that now Ben has access to 10,000 alien forms, he also has unlocked the Omnitrix's master control function, allowing him to switch forms at will, without timing out. In "Ben 10,000", it showed how dark the future of Ben Tennyson could be. He has grown into a more strict and serious character, going so far as to stop naming his aliens (which the present Ben considers "half the fun" of using them), but through his interaction with his past self, it causes him to lighten up somewhat, naming his aliens all over again. In "Ben 10,000 Returns", Ben meets what is apparently his true future self (The one he met when he was ten is revealed to be from an alternate timeline). This version retains the present-day Ben's personality, and uses the Ultimate function on his human form, allowing him to access his aliens' powers without actually changing. He also has access to his Anodite abilities, like Gwen, Ben is also 3/4 human and 1/4 Anodite through his life energy. His ultimate human form Utlimate Ben will probably enable him to finally tap into his Anodite heritage at long last and will awaken his dormant Anodite and magical abilities to their full potential. The 10 year old Ben version appears in the Ben 10: Ultimate Alien episode "The Forge Of Creation" to help the present day Ben. Tara Strong reprises her role as the Ben from the original series. This Ben looks slightly different from the original, he has different shoes and his face resembles 16 year old Ben's, also, the plumber symbol on young Ben's aliens has a green tint rather than black and white in the original series. See Ben 10 Aliens See Ben 10 Episodes Category:Ben 10 Characters Category:Cartoon Network Characters Category:Male Cartoon Network Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Heroes Category:Original Articles Category:Male Characters Category:Main Characters in Ben 10 series